Extraordinary

The following sections are included:

• Dedication
• About the Author
• Contents

As each wave of contractions came, and the pain coursed through my body, I gritted my teeth and willed myself to relax, instead of tensing up instinctively.

I took in long, deep and slow breaths, counting to five each time. My fingers tapped gently on my belly according to the beat of my count. It was painful, especially as I had done away with an epidural. But I relished every moment, in awe of what my body was about to do. My husband Leon stood next to me, wiping the sweat off my brows…

Perhaps it was the naivety of youth or just misplaced confidence. Before Russell’s arrival, Leon and I had dismissed the idea of hiring a confinement nanny for the first month after the baby’s birth — an Asian practice to help the new mother focus on her post-partum nutrition and recovery, and building a bond with her newborn. It is termed confinement as this is a period for mothers to stay indoors and focus on regaining their energy. But a confinement nanny just didn’t seem necessary. There were two of us and just one baby — if we both pitched in, we should be fine, or so we had thought…

It took my father several visits to my home before he sat me down for the talk. I had sensed it was coming. Since I had become a stay-at-home mother, he had often suggested activities that I could do with Russell to keep myself occupied. He was quite enlightened in his view about stay-at-home mothers; he viewed being a parent as work too, and like all jobs, he believed it had to be organised well…

The transition from working to stay-at-home mother took some adjustment, but I thoroughly enjoyed my new identity as a fashion design student. I looked forward to evening classes at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, while Leon stayed home with Russell and my helper. My fellow course mates and I pored over fabric swatches, discussed the construction of garments and explored colour theory. On weekends, I made trips to art and craft shops with Russell in tow to buy reams of fabric so that I could test out some of my design ideas…

My to-do list was packed. I had a mission to transform Fitson and there was so much to do. For a start, I wanted to get the company, its processes, and materials certified according to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the world’s largest developer of voluntary international standards. If Fitson wanted to grow, this was the first step. As a producer of mother and baby products, quality assurance was necessary to inspire confidence…

Our prayers came true: Brandon was a healthy baby. We were overjoyed. The postpartum bliss, however, did not last long. When I offered my breast to my screaming, hungry second son, it wasn’t long before I started weeping too. The pain in my nipple was excruciating.…

In the pursuit of designing the perfect milk bottle, I met my father in his factory office one day and did something outrageous. I showed him my breast. Okay, let me explain. It was all in the name of education. We had a great team of designers at Fitson who could bring our milk bottle idea to life. But there was one tiny problem. All of them were men, and were unfamiliar with lactating nipples…

The day before Hegen’s media launch at Fort Canning, I saw my hairdresser and told him about the event and our plans to go global. His reply stunned me.

“You have a very plain, girl-next-door face. If you aspire to be a global brand, you need to be iconic. So that when you stand on a global stage, people will remember you. I will do it for you if you are game enough.” He then suggested I dye my hair a bright crimson shade, and asked if I was game…

Everything, everywhere, happened all at once. For the first time on record, sleet was reported in Okinawa. Snowstorms, sudden and deadly, wreaked havoc across the rest of Japan. Further south, temperatures in Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam dropped to 15 degrees Celsius or lower — almost unheard of in tropical Southeast Asia…

“So my kid has this thing called nipple confusion.” I didn’t expect to hear the word “nipple” in the middle of a business conference in China. Neither did I ever think I’d see my long-time friend look so haggard and defeated, with telltale signs of dark circles under her eyes.

She was one of the successful female entrepreneurs I knew, but outside of work, I knew and loved her for her fun side, her seemingly boundless energy. Now she seemed like a shell of her former self, her words hanging heavily in the air between us…

The countdown to 8pm was nerve-racking. I was seated ramrod straight in front of my laptop, watching with bated breath as the participant count on my screen rapidly ticked up.

This would be the first rendition of Cherish Nature’s Gift™ Seminar on Zoom in Singapore in 2020. I was almost giddy with excitement to restart my outreach efforts, having been cooped up at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. If I couldn’t go to mums, I would simply bring them closer to me — virtually…

Nipples come in all shapes and sizes. At Hegen, we’ve seen it all. In fact, part of our Customer Service Specialists’ job is to personally measure our clients’ nipple sizes when they want to purchase our Hegen breast pumps and flanges, which range from 16mm to 31mm.

If this sounds tedious, it is because it is. The whole business of motherhood is not for the faint of heart. “I feel like a cow” is a sentiment I often hear from mothers because breastfeeding, precious as the experience is, can sometimes make you feel unnecessarily bovine. And if you’re not breastfeeding directly, then you’re pumping every three to four hours. Or, in other words, literally being milked.…

Dear reader,

When I embarked on the process of writing this book in mid-2023, I had just a simple desire: to share my pregnancy and breastfeeding experiences as a working mother, and hopefully help other women who find themselves navigating a similar juggle between work and home…